"I am extremely excited to have begun work on the Tennison project," La Plante said in a statement.

"Jane Tennison is a character who millions of people know and admire from my books and TV series, Prime Suspect, portrayed brilliantly by Helen Mirren.

"But nobody knows what drove her to become a DCI or want to join the police force in the first place. When you first meet her in the early '90s, she is a very complex character, but what made her so?"

La Plante originally created Prime Suspect in 1991, with the show's final two-part serial airing in 2006.

"Readers will find out [about Tennison's origins] next year when the book is published; or in 2016, which is the 25th anniversary of Prime Suspect, when they watch Tennison the series," the writer said.